The subject matter disclosed herein relates to gear geometry with a fluid reservoir and fluid paths.
Helicopters or other rotary wing aircraft typically include an airframe having a fuselage that defines a cabin in an interior thereof, a main rotor section and a tail section. One or more engines may be operably disposed within the airframe, a main rotor may be rotatably supported at the main rotor section and a tail rotor may be rotatably supported at the tail section. The main rotor is supported by a main rotor shaft and is disposed to rotate about an axis of rotation defined along a longitudinal axis of the main rotor shaft. The rotation of the main rotor provides for lift force of the helicopter. The tail rotor is supported by a tail and rotation of the tail rotor provides anti-torque control of the helicopter. Helicopters may further include a gear train operably interposed between the one or more engines and at least the main and tail rotors. The gear train is thereby configured to transmit torque from the one or more engines to at least the main and tail rotors to drive rotation of the rotors about the respective axes of rotation.
Thus, in order to cool and lubricate its various components including the gear train, helicopters and other rotary wing aircraft often include lubrication systems. These systems may be arranged in redundant configurations in a given helicopter, for example, and provide lubricant to moving parts under normal operating conditions. Thus, if a primary lubrication system fails, a secondary lubrication system can be initiated to provide adequate supplies of lubricant for continued cooling and lubrication.
In many cases, the secondary lubrication systems rely on sensors to detect failures in the primary lubrication systems and may be initiated automatically or manually by an operator. In either case, the secondary lubrication systems are themselves prone to failures or are subject to operator error.